Duty Bound (1995) (13 page)

Ted followed her into the office. "You sure they can't find out who sent it?"

"Trust me," she said as she sat down behind her computer.

"Bonita, listen to me now," Ted said, seeing her click the mouse. "We gotta be smart on this so we don't blow our op.

Tell 'em they're in grave danger. Say a big drug player is tryin' to knock 'em off, but don't tell them who it is or how exactly he's involved with the Yona Group."

Bonita swiveled around in her chair, looking at up him as if in disbelief. "You're still planning to steal the money after what's happened?"

"I can't take out Mendez unless I have the money to pay my team . . . and you won't get your split, either. How long can you hide out with what you've got? You want to live, don't you?"

Bonita turned back to the computer. "Please, God, forgive me . . . what do I say again?"

Minutes later Bonita pushed back from the desk but kept her eyes on the monitor. "Something is wrong. The FBI agent received the message, but not Wentzel."

"How do you know that?"

"It says right there on the screen whether their computer got the message or not. Wentzel's computer won't accept it.

Something is wrong. It's always accepted my messages before."

"Maybe his computer is turned off," Ted offered.

"Uh-uh, that doesn't matter. I'm going to call him."

"You can't do that. A phone call is traceable . . . they keep records."

Bonita picked up a cell phone from the desk. "I'm not stupid, Faircloud. Your friends gave me this cell phone to use. I used it to call you yesterday. They called it a safe phone . . . it's got a number to somebody in Texas . . . can't be traced here." She pushed the keys and put the phone to her ear. A long moment passed before she lowered the device and gave Ted a worried look. "He's not answering. . . .

He wouldn't have already gone to work this early; he should be there. Something is wrong. Oh God, do you think . . ."

"I don't know," Ted said, patting her shoulder. "Keep tryin' . . . I've got to get back to my guys. I gotta feelin'

Mendez is goin' to be movin' that money real soon."

As Ted turned to go, Bonita grabbed his hand. "Teddy, what are we going to do if Carlos has already got to Wentzel?"

"Do?" Ted repeated. "There's nothin' we can do, at least for now. But once I get his money I'm goin' to do something. . . . I'm puttin' that son of a bitch away permanently."

Bonita kept her grip. "What happens if you don't kill Carlos?"

"I'll be dead then, Bonita. And so will you."

"That's right, we'll all be dead and Carlos will have won.

I can't let that happen. . . . If I die, I want to die with a clear conscience. I know somebody, Teddy, a TV news investigator from a station in Atlanta. She came to our station in Miami a year ago and did some research on a story she was working on. I'm going to send her an e-mail and tell her about the Yona Group. . . . Don't worry, I won't name Carlos, but I'll give her enough to get started. She'll eventually piece it together and expose him."

Ted frowned. "You could get her dead, too. You think about that?"

"She's good, Teddy. I'll warn her and she'll know what to do. Please . . . we have to make sure Carlos doesn't get away with what he's done."

"I'm goin' to do my part, Bonita; I'm gettin' him . . . but go ahead, do what ya gotta do if it'll make you feel better."

Bonita forced a smile. "Take care of yourself, Teddy. I'll be waiting for your call."

.

10:02 A. M., FBI field office, Atlanta.

Seated in the large conference room with other resident office chiefs and agents, Eli Tanner lowered his eyes and looked at his hands as the projector clicked and flashed pictures of dead bodies on the screen. Seated beside him, Ashley doodled on her notepad, having seen enough after the first picture of the body of the senator. A minute later the lights came on and Don Farrel, the special agent in charge of the Atlanta office, looked at the deputy director of the Bureau, who was seated beside him at the head of the table.

"Sir, the senator's cruiser was raised from the river early this morning. Nine-millimeter shell casings were found inside the cabin and on the deck, corroborating the statement of the survivor, Miss Ayers, and the M. E.'s conclusion that automatic weapons were used. Also, sir, local Florida sheriff's deputies found three abandoned bass boats this morning in Apalachicola Bay. One was green, matching the description from Miss Ayers. Our people have already made a search of the boats and found nothing--they were wiped clean."

The deputy lowered his head, looking at his hands.

"Automatic weapons and three boats used. I assume we've concluded this is a hit?"

The SAC spoke evenly. "Yes, sir. Based on the evidence we have so far, we believe the attack was a hurriedly planned assassination of the senator . . . and because of the method and weapon used, we also believe the murders of two staffers in Washington were hits as well. We believe the Goodnight assassins were on a short-fuse timetable and had little time for planning. We believe this because if the assassins had more time, they could have easily made their attempt on the senator while he was in Washington, where it is common knowledge he jogs alone every morning."

The deputy director nodded. "I agree it had to be shortfused, but why did they take out the senator's family? A sniper hidden on the bank could have done it with one shot."

"Sir, we believe the assassins had to ensure the senator was killed. Placing marksmen on the river bank would have been too risky in that the senator may have been out of sight, in the cabin, when the cruiser passed them. The only way to ensure his death was to be within point-blank range.

Sir, the attack does tell us something, however, about their timetable. We believe the assassins had only twenty-four to thirty-six hours of planning time. We came to this conclusion because if they had more time they could have made the attempt on the senator in Columbus before he left for the trip. He jogged alone Friday morning before going to the cruiser to join his family."

"Yes, that seems logical," the deputy director said. "It would have been less risky for them rather than staging their daylight attack. Have we got anything on why the senator would be subject to assassination?"

"Sir, we learned this morning from the Washington office that all of the computers in the senator's offices had their hard drives erased and all their disks had been blanked.

Paper files are also missing, and a check of Wentzel's residence and private office revealed the same--the computers were erased of all data, disks were blanked, and files are missing."

Farrel paused a moment and leaned forward in his chair.

"Sir, we believe there is a connection between the murders and the destruction and removal of the files. At this time I will have Special Agent Paul Eddings continue the briefing.

I've assigned him as the case agent in charge of this case, and he will explain the connection."

Seated at the opposite end of the long table, Eli drew in a breath and shifted his eyes from the SAC to the big, good-looking former all-American special agent who stood, then moved to the right side of the screen. Eli knew Paul Eddings only by reputation and from having watched him on television years ago. Eddings had been a star halfback for the University of Alabama.

Eddings dipped his chin to the deputy and nodded to the computer operator, who touched the keyboard, causing another slide to be projected to the screen. It was a color map of Georgia and its bordering states.

Eddings extended his pocket pointer but kept it at his side as he spoke. "Sir, as you are aware, Senator Goodnight requested the Federal Trade Commission and the Bureau to investigate a business here in Georgia known as the Yona Group. The senator had received numerous complaints from constituents that this group was using unfair business practices within the northern region of the state. The senator had also received an anonymous e-mail message a month before containing very specific information, laying out the unfair business practices being conducted by the group. Using the information, Senator Goodnight made a preliminary investigation under the leadership of his staffer, Matthew Wentzel.

Mr. Wentzel found within a few weeks that the group was indeed engaging in price-fixing and in violation of antitrust laws. He contacted the Federal Trade Commission to report his findings but they were unable to look into the matter for some time. He then contacted the Bureau, and as you know I was assigned to look into the matter. Six days ago I met with the senator and Mr. Wentzel for the first time, and they showed me what they had uncovered. Sir, I must point out that Matthew Wentzel was an attorney who was very thorough. He had done extensive legwork and had conducted interviews with several witnesses who he had managed to locate. After reading the document and witness statements, I concluded there was enough evidence to warrant our involvement. Sir, it was clear the Yona Group was engaging in an illegal monopoly of the conversion van, boat, and truck industry of the southeast region."